4 ms·

This is really one of the worst dysfunctions of mobile telephony today, at least in North America. The cell phone carriers have an iron grip on the sales chann

This is really one of the worst dysfunctions of mobile telephony today, at least in North America. The cell phone carriers have an iron grip on the sales channel for cell phones, and that sales channel is the oxygen supply for handset manufacturers. Realistically that means that Samsung needs to sell to Verizon, not Verizon's customers. Interested in why the HTC One X hasn't sold very well? In spite of equivalent electronics compared to Samsung and far superior build quality? It's because Verizon and AT&T got pissed off at HTC a year ago when HTC announced that they were going to be unlocking their boot loaders. HTC forgot that they don't sell to cell phone users - they sell to the telephone company.

fpgeek 14y ago
While I agree that carrier control of handsets is one of the deepest dysfunctions of mobile telephony in North America, I think you're wrong about the HTC One X. After all, HTC did disable the bootloader unlock for the AT&T version and presumably would have done the same for Verizon. Problems the One X has had that have had nothing to do with US carriers and bootloaders: 1. No microSD card slot and no removable battery, making it a trickier sale to existing HTC customers. 2. US customs holdup from the Apple lawsuit that delayed the EVO 4G LTE launch on Sprint and limited supply in the pre-SGS3 period on AT&T. 3. Disappointing European sales (probably due to #1). HTC has had their problems and made their mistakes, but unlocking bootloaders has not been one of them. Remember, with the recent exception of the Verizon SGS3 (and they've already had to partially backtrack with a "developer edition"), Samsung has had wide-open bootloaders the whole time (and employs Cyanogen, to boot).
Spearchucker 14y ago
Is it really the case that the only way to get a handset in the US is through a carrier? Not even from Amazon or other online electronics retailer? I've not bought a handset in the US. And never will, from a carrier (irrespective of the cost) because - a). I want an unlocked handset b). I don't want carrier branding or crapware on my phone c). I don't trust carriers (ref. eg. CarrierIQ).
- TylerE 14y ago
  Mostly, yea. You can buy on Amazon, but even there you're still buying it through a carrier, with a plan.
- BHSPitMonkey 14y ago
  No, it's not the case. Buying through the carrier is the main paradigm in place, but plenty of even "normal" retailers [1] offer unlocked phones, as well as places like eBay, and Google (e.g. Google sells the Galaxy Nexus unlocked, directly). [1] http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Mobile-Cell-Phones/Unlocked-Mobile-Phones/pcmcat156400050037.c?id=pcmcat156400050037 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Mobile-Cell-Phones/Unlocked-Mobi...
- gwillen 14y ago
  You can buy a handset through an electronics retailer. But: - Every cell carrier in the US has its own frequencies, so you generally have to buy a handset specific to a particular carrier. (The GSM carriers, T-mobile and AT&T, share the voice and 2G data frequencies, but they have different 3G data frequencies. The CDMA carriers share nothing.) - With most carriers, when you start service you are paying a baked-in surcharge designed to pay for the discount on the handset you got from them. You pay this whether you bought the handset, or brought your own. So if you buy a handset and then set up a plan, you're throwing money away if you don't buy it from the carrier. (There are some carriers for which this isn't true.)

fpgeek 14y ago

While I agree that carrier control of handsets is one of the deepest dysfunctions of mobile telephony in North America, I think you're wrong about the HTC One X. After all, HTC did disable the bootloader unlock for the AT&T version and presumably would have done the same for Verizon. Problems the One X has had that have had nothing to do with US carriers and bootloaders: 1. No microSD card slot and no removable battery, making it a trickier sale to existing HTC customers. 2. US customs holdup from the Apple lawsuit that delayed the EVO 4G LTE launch on Sprint and limited supply in the pre-SGS3 period on AT&T. 3. Disappointing European sales (probably due to #1). HTC has had their problems and made their mistakes, but unlocking bootloaders has not been one of them. Remember, with the recent exception of the Verizon SGS3 (and they've already had to partially backtrack with a "developer edition"), Samsung has had wide-open bootloaders the whole time (and employs Cyanogen, to boot).

Spearchucker 14y ago

Is it really the case that the only way to get a handset in the US is through a carrier? Not even from Amazon or other online electronics retailer? I've not bought a handset in the US. And never will, from a carrier (irrespective of the cost) because - a). I want an unlocked handset b). I don't want carrier branding or crapware on my phone c). I don't trust carriers (ref. eg. CarrierIQ).

TylerE 14y ago
Mostly, yea. You can buy on Amazon, but even there you're still buying it through a carrier, with a plan.
BHSPitMonkey 14y ago
No, it's not the case. Buying through the carrier is the main paradigm in place, but plenty of even "normal" retailers [1] offer unlocked phones, as well as places like eBay, and Google (e.g. Google sells the Galaxy Nexus unlocked, directly). [1] http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Mobile-Cell-Phones/Unlocked-Mobile-Phones/pcmcat156400050037.c?id=pcmcat156400050037 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Mobile-Cell-Phones/Unlocked-Mobi...
gwillen 14y ago
You can buy a handset through an electronics retailer. But: - Every cell carrier in the US has its own frequencies, so you generally have to buy a handset specific to a particular carrier. (The GSM carriers, T-mobile and AT&T, share the voice and 2G data frequencies, but they have different 3G data frequencies. The CDMA carriers share nothing.) - With most carriers, when you start service you are paying a baked-in surcharge designed to pay for the discount on the handset you got from them. You pay this whether you bought the handset, or brought your own. So if you buy a handset and then set up a plan, you're throwing money away if you don't buy it from the carrier. (There are some carriers for which this isn't true.)